LONGVIEW — Cowlitz County commissioners unanimously OK’d a tight 2024-25 budget without raising property taxes after finding extra revenue in unbudgeted federal COVID relief funds.
But, while technically allowed despite a roughly $15 million deficit, commissioners warned of the budget’s lack of wiggle room.
“We have a balanced budget under the law, but there are some inherent risks that we have to be constantly vigilant of …,” Commissioner Dennis Weber said at the Dec. 19 meeting.
In 2024, the county plans to take in $58 million in general fund revenue, while spending $73 million.
The expenditures include the requirement of a one-month reserve. Weber said accountants often recommend maintaining two to three months’ worth of salaries in the bank, but the state requires less.
Finance Director Kathy Funk-Baxter said the county can retain 1.5 months of reserves.
“The good news is we have sufficient fund balance to balance our budget,” she said.
Previously, commissioners asked departments to find an extra $400,000 that would have come from a property tax increase commissioners declined to enact. Funk-Baxter found about $375,000 of American Rescue Plan Act money that hadn’t been added to the budget, she said at the Dec. 6 meeting. The ARPA money can be used on projects like water and sewer infrastructure and addressing negative economic effects from the pandemic.
Weber said the county received about $50 million in pandemic relief funds, and has allocated almost all of the $19.6 million left. The deadline to spend the APRA money, specifically, is 2026.
Funk-Baxter also discovered the county often over budgeted staff overtime, so she lowered that number to save about $135,000 after commissioners made the request on Dec. 6.
Half of the passed budget is comprised of staff salaries and benefits for 586 positions, she added. In 2024, Cost of Living Adjustments were added.
But, while the county is budgeted to be fully staffed, in actuality, said Weber, departments are on average 10-15% understaffed because they can’t fill all the positions. At the end of the year, that extra savings is factored into the budget, he said.
Commissioner Arne Mortensen said county costs are going up, often due to state requirements, but the municipality’s ability to collect more money does not rise.
“Our costs go up far more than the caps we’re allowed in our taxation,” he said. “I don’t think that’s a problem, but it’s a reality …”
Changes
Commissioners decided Dec. 6 not to vote to determine whether to continue the county’s roughly 12-year-old mental health sales tax. Instead, they plan to ask voters whether to continue the tax which mostly aids mental health and chemical dependency issues for people in the criminal justice system. The tax adds a penny to every $10 purchase.
Two additional vehicles were budgeted to be purchased for two additional employees, a county sheriff’s office detective and an animal control officer. The county humane society cut its contracted animal control services in 2023, so law enforcement throughout the county are picking up the service.
The county upped water and sewer fees for its roughly 2,000 customers in areas like Toutle and Ostrander by 3% to maintain services. Weber said the county aims to ensure Toutle residents have access to a sewer system, not just septic, as the area grows.
Building and planning fees mostly remained the same, but included reductions in order to make housing more affordable, like creating a fixed fee to build wheelchair ramps.
The state Administrative Office of the Courts is no longer replacing computers, Funk-Baxter said, so about 29 computers were budgeted.
“Because of the small growth in sales tax and limited growth in our property taxes, we need to be conservative, and keep monitoring all of our budgets,” she said.
